Crisp Dongchimi (Radish Water Kimchi) with Refreshing Broth

Ingredients

• Around 500 g per radish seems ideal. Choose radishes that are firm, free of blemishes, and have fresh leaves.
• Adding green mustard greens also makes the broth refreshing and delicious.
• I bought dried sea staghorn seaweed, soaked it in water, and cleaned it thoroughly.
• These chili peppers were fermented in salt water for a week. Adding them to dongchimi gives it deep savory flavor. Rinse them clean and pat dry.

Steps

1. I bought 5 dongchimi radishes. Around 500 g per radish seems ideal.

   Choose radishes that are firm, free of blemishes, and have fresh leaves.

   

2. Remove tough or damaged outer leaves, and use a knife to trim away the messy area where the leaves meet the radish.

   

3. Remove the thin rootlets, and the radishes are trimmed like this.

   

4. Wash the radishes clean with a scrubber or brush.

   

5. The radishes were firm, so I cut them in half. Rub a cup of coarse sea salt evenly all over the front and back of the radishes, pour in 2 cups of water together, and let them salt overnight. I salted them for about 20 hours.

6. As the salt dissolves and moisture is drawn out of the radishes, a concentrated brine forms.

   While salting, flip them top to bottom 2-3 times.

   It depends on the size of the radishes, but uncut radishes will probably need to be salted for about two days.

7. Rinse the salted radishes just once in clear water and drain them.

8. For the dongchimi broth, dissolve 2/3 cup of coarse sea salt and half a cup of sugar into 30 cups of bottled water.

   I make just a simple salt brine for the dongchimi broth and let it ferment. Without any separate broth, it blends with the other ingredients to create a clean and refreshing dongchimi broth.

   Depending on personal taste, some people also make and mix in anchovy broth, onion juice, or pear juice, so keep that in mind.

9. While the salt dissolves in the water, prepare the other ingredients for the dongchimi.

   What you see on the left is sea staghorn seaweed. I bought dried sea staghorn seaweed, soaked it in water, and cleaned it thoroughly.

   I also use it when making kimchi; in the Busan and Gyeongnam regions, people often add sea staghorn seaweed to kimchi.

   Adding green mustard greens also makes the broth refreshing and delicious.

   On the right are chili peppers fermented in salt water for a week. Adding them to dongchimi gives it deep savory flavor.

   Rinse them clean and pat dry.

   If you want to see how to ferment the chili peppers, look here: http://blog.naver.com/ppunwife/140052630786

10. Bundle the scallions 4-5 at a time, and bundle the sea staghorn seaweed in single-serving portions as well.

    Slice the whole garlic cloves and ginger into flat pieces.

11. Cut the apple and Korean pear into large chunks. Now all the additional ingredients are ready.

12. Place the garlic and ginger separately into a cotton pouch.

13. Place the pouch with garlic and ginger at the bottom of a large container, then layer the radishes and other ingredients neatly on top.

14. Placing the heavy radishes on top of lighter ingredients helps weigh them down.

15. Pour the salted water into the container. The ingredients fill a large kimchi container about 3/4 full.

16. Weigh them down with something heavy on top and let it ferment at room temperature for ten to fifteen days.

Ppunwife's tips

• Placing the heavy radishes on top of lighter ingredients helps weigh them down.
• While salting, flip them top to bottom 2-3 times.

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